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Marta Mierendorff papers

 Collection
Identifier: 0214

Scope and Content

The Marta Mierendorff papers comprises correspondence, manuscripts, notes, and ephemera regarding the lives and work of many German-speaking emigre artists in Southern California. Furthermore, it contains transcripts of various conferences on exile studies, articles, presentations, interview transcripts, Wim Wenders screenplays, and data sheets Marta Mierendorff created about various exiled German-speaking artists. The materials were collected by Marta Mierendorff (b. 1911), who was made Emeritus Research Professor in 1984 at USC.

Dates

  • 1933 - 1985

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Advance notice required for access.

Conditions Governing Use

The collection contains published materials; researchers are reminded of the copyright restrictions imposed by publishers on reusing their articles and parts of books. It is the responsibility of researchers to acquire permission from publishers when reusing such materials. The copyright to unpublished materials belongs to the heirs of the writers. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Rights Statement for Archival Description

Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

Biographical note

Marta Mierendorff was born in Charlottenburg (Berlin), Germany in 1911. She received her doctorate in 1949 from Humboldt University in Berlin. In the 1950s, she turned to study of the sociology of art and co-founded the Institut fuer Kunstsoziologie in Berlin with Heinrich Tost in 1954.

In the late 1950s, Marta Mierendorff developed an interest in the study of German-speaking exiles from the National Socialist regime. She traveled to Los Angeles in 1964 and there began working on the history of the Jewish Club of 1933, whose members were German Jewish exiles. Marta Mierendorff moved to Los Angeles in 1966. In 1971, she became a professor in the Department of German at the University of Southern California. Professor Mierendorff continued her research on German-speaking refugees, who were active in theater, film, cabaret, and other cultural endeavors, and who came to the United States in the 1930s and 1940s. She also collected materials on their life and work. Considered a pioneer in the study of exiles, Marta Mierendorff was made Emeritus Research Professor in 1984 at USC.

Extent

48.6 Linear Feet (78 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, notes, and ephemera regarding the lives and work of many German-speaking emigre artists in Southern California.

One focus of the collection are German Expressionist Theater director Leopold Jessner (1878-1945) and his brother-in-law, the actor and director Fritz Jessner (1889-1946), both of whom left Germany in the 1930s to escape the Nazi persecution of Jews. The collection also includes more extensive materials on Walter Wicclair, director William Dieterle, art-director Rudi Feld, Felix Jackson, the Mann family, Lion Feuchtwanger, and Elow as well as about the Jewish Club of 1933. Furthermore it contains transcripts of various conferences on exile studies, articles, presentations, interview transcripts, Wim Wenders screenplays, and data sheets Marta Mierendorff created about various exiled German-speaking artists.

The materials were collected by Marta Mierendorff (b. 1911), who was made Emeritus Research Professor in 1984 at USC.

Processing Information

This collection is processed.

Subjects

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Finding Aid for Marta Mierendorff papers
Status
Completed
Author
Michaela Ullmann, data transfer by Nicholas Muellerleile
Date
2011
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English, German

Revision Statements

  • 2018 December: Finding aid updated by Sue Luftschein to include 1 box of audio materials.
  • 2020 August: Finding aid updated by Bo Doub: created new container records for unprocessed material using container lists from a collections move by Backstage Library Works.
  • 2023 February: Finding aid updated by Marissa Chavez and Sarah Jardini for History Associates Incorporated

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the USC Libraries Special Collections Repository

http://libraries.usc.edu/locations/special-collections
Contact:
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles California 90089-0189 United States

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Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.